Talia doesn’t answer, only shrugs and walks over to the bar. After she grabs a water, she arches a brow at me. “I heard you saw the shaky doc this morning.”
The good doc blew my cover by filing a report, and now Taurus is going to skin me alive for going without him. “I did. It’s still early... only eight weeks, according to him. No need for fanfare; everything looked fine.”
“You should tell us when you’re going for check-ups. Taurus got an alert while he was bitching me out and he’s not thrilled. It might be early, but your little miracle there is far beyond the pale.”
“Of course she is.” I rub my hand over my stomach, feeling Maeve touch me inside in response. “She has powers far beyond what I would have expected. That’s why one of my errands was to set up a magickal midwife who will monitor me alongside Marvin.”
Her eyes widen. “That’s why you’ve been seeing magickal people on the other side. He ranted about that for a while, too.”
“Yep. I want to learn how my own powers work, so I’ll be able to help my darling girl learn to use hers. Plus, networking is part of what I do now, right? Missions go easier when you have assets. I pull mine from both the mundane and the mystic. It gives me an edge.”
My mate comes a little closer. “Are those the shoes you were wearing at HQ? Mikhail said you had a run-in with third years after your de-brief. The rumor mill is spreading that you nearly decapitated Graham for mouthing off to you.”
I snort, covering my mouth. “No. Way.”
A giggle escapes her lips, and she nods. “Oh, yeah. Khan told Mikhail that you threatened to let me skin anyone who looked at you so Taurus could make soup out of them. It’s all over the building.”
Collapsing on the bed as I hold my gut and laugh, I beam. “That is rich. I’ve been fighting for independence and respect from those lunk heads for weeks. And this gets their attention? I decapitated—which I did not, I knee-capped him—a third-year with a couture high heel and had my mates cook the leftovers. What’s Mickey got to say?”
I grin in satisfaction. “That will teach him to lead a bunch of idiots gossiping about how I got my job, how I don’t deserve it, and blah blah blah, while they undress me with their eyes.”
The hiss startles me. “Undresssssss you? I’ll take his other kneecap.”
“That’s what I told them. Promise.”
“Do you want to see what I brought? It might help your conundrum.”
Nodding, I murmur, “I do, but I want to have a talk about last night, too.” I float the tube she left on the counter over to her hands. “Whatever this is, we can talk about it after I ask you a favor.”
She blinks. “Okay...”
“Next time you get truly distraught, you need to do something for me. You can run; you can get into fights; you can even hide. But if you’re that upset, you must build shields around our connection. They need to be ones meant to keep you from accessing my magick while emotional until I teach you to use it.”
Her mouth is hanging open in shock. I won’t be a hypocrite and tell her to behave better than I do. That’s pointless and pedantic. All I need her to do is to keep her empathy from sucking us dry.
“What’s happened so far is small compared to what could happen once I get a feel for my power. I don’t know where the bottom is, but it could get very dangerous. I will teach you how to use it like I’ve been teaching Taurus. But until you learn, you can’t access it unless it’s a dire emergency.”
“I didn’t mean to!” she thumps the bed and looks upset.
“I know you didn’t. Your pain and rage about Wilde touched something inside me that should not have been out of its cage. Once you hit that, it floored me. I couldn’t get control back.”
“It worries me that there’s something so dark that you cage it,” she whispers.
I look at her and shake my head. “I can’t let it out. It’s not time yet. Everyone has deep darks, my love. This one is not ready to see the light.”
She sighs and nods. “Okay. But when you are ready, we’ll be here.”
I smile and tilt my head. “Thank you, love. Now, tell me about this tube.”
Sin Plucks The Apple From The Tree
TALIA
Iturn the velvet tube over in my hands, rolling it between my palms like a totem. The golden thread tied around it tightens, then loosens, then tightens again, depending on the angle and whether my fingers are shaking. The motion focuses me, but I can’t stop glancing at her face for signs of interest or disdain. Her gaze flicks between my hands and my eyes, and even though she tries to project nonchalance, I know she’s curious.
Maybe I only hope she is.
I duck my head as the embarrassment threads into my voice before I speak. “I’ve had this since before the party, but… I don’t know.” My throat closes around the rest of my sentence. My foot taps a fast, anxious rhythm on the floor. “Anyway, it’s a terrible idea.”
